Provost's Office: Memorandum
To: All Students, Faculty and Staff
From: Dr. Mark Greenberg, Interim Provost
Subject: In Memoriam: Dr. Mary K. Howett
Date: 21 October 2008
Dr. Mary K. Howett, Professor and Department Head in the Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology, College of Arts and Sciences, from 2003 to the present, died August 20, 2008 from complications due to leukemia. A champion of graduate student education and junior faculty member development, her leadership was a key component of the successful expansion of the department as both a sought-after undergraduate major and a highly productive research enterprise. Dr. Howett's energy and commitment will be deeply missed by the Department, the College, and the University.
Dr. Howett was a molecular virologist who specialized in the study of sexually transmitted diseases. She received countless research grants from federal and private-funding agencies and was the holder of numerous patents with her long-time collaborator, John W. Kreider, M.D. Her unprecedented work led to the discovery of a method for propagating human papillomaviruses, which contributed to the development of the papillomavirus vaccine, Gardasil, recently released by Merck Pharmaceutical Company.
Dr. Howett received her B.S. from the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science (now the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia) in 1969, from which she received the Distinguished Alumni Award in 2002. She received her Ph.D. in molecular biology in 1976 from The Wistar Institute of Anatomy and Biology of the University of Pennsylvania and completed her postdoctoral fellowship at the Leukemia Society of America, Inc. Prior to her appointment at Drexel, she served for 30 years in a variety of positions at Pennsylvania State College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, including Professor in both the Department of Microbiology and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Director of the Viral Carcinogenesis Program at the Penn State Cancer Institute.
Over a long and distinguished career, Dr. Howett was the Ph.D. advisor of 11 doctoral students and numerous postdoctoral fellows who have since moved on to successful careers in education, science, and industry. She was a member of nine professional societies and a founding member of The International Society for NeuroVirology. She served on the Pennsylvania Bar Association's Interdisciplinary Committee on Medical and Health Related Issues, which led to the passage of important legislation concerning confidentiality in HIV testing. She published over 100 scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals, and was the founder, president, and chief executive officer of Renaissance Scientific, LLC.
Dr. Howett was the first female scientist to receive a National Institutes of Health fellowship to study at the Institute of Experimental Pathology and Therapy in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia. She was also an invited lecturer at the Institute of Virology in Beijing and at Wuhan University in Wuhan, both in the People's Republic of China. Among numerous other awards, Dr. Howett was the recipient of the Athena Award in 2000 from the Capital Area Chamber of Commerce in Harrisburg, PA.
Dr. Howett is survived by her husband, John C. Howett, Jr., Esq. of Harrisburg, PA, her two children, Timothy S., a student at Drexel Law School and Julia K., a junior in Communications at Drexel's College of Arts and Sciences; and two brothers.
A memorial service will be held on Sunday, August 24, 2008 at 1:00 p.m. in the Main Ballroom of the Harrisburg Hilton Hotel, One North Second Street, Harrisburg, PA, 17101. Dr. Howett's friends will be received by her family at their home following the service. Arrangements are being handled by the Hetrick Funeral Home, 3125 Walnut Street, Harrisburg, PA, 17109. Memorial contributions may be made to the Mary K. Howett Scholarship Fund at Drexel University, Office of Institutional Advancement, 3141 Chestnut Street, Suite 310, Philadelphia, PA 19104.
For more information, please call the College of Arts and Sciences at 215-895-2620.